One Day I Won't be Covered in Puke

This is not a glamorous blog, but I need to get it out of the way.

Charlotte is a puker.

Not at first. In fact, I remember thinking to myself (smugly) in the beginning, "I am so thankful that Charlotte doesn't spit up like _____'s baby, what an annoying thing." Well, little did I know I would be in for months and months of puke. I'm not talking a little spit-up here and there, I'm talking about large quantities of puke 6-8 times a day. At first I thought it was a phase, she'll grow out of it in no time. But days turned to weeks, and weeks to months, and the puking just carried on. Our pediatrician said that their pyloric sphincter is not fully developed until 6 months, so around then it should stop. 6 months came and went, and I'm still covered in puke on a daily basis. I thought, maybe when she started eating solid food it would slow down, but no such luck. The only thing that changed was the consistency of the puke. Wonderful...

I started developing strategies to get out the door with clean clothes. I had a designated "puke shirt" that I would wear over my real clothes and take off right before I left.  Since I have a moral aversion to bibs, Charlotte would stay in her 'puke clothes' until we arrived at our destination, then I would change her. I carry around burp clothes wherever I go.There is a cloth tucked away in every corner of our house. If anyone wants to hold her, I hand them a burp cloth also. I even carry paper towels so I can wipe up the floor of Target when it splatters.  And praise God for hardwood floors. I don't even want to think about what our house would smell like if we had carpet.

It does say a lot about a mother's love. I don't even mind that she does it. I know it's gross, and yes, it is extremely annoying, but I love her no matter what. God really blessed mothers with the ability to see their children through rose-colored glasses. I would feel so sorry for any other mom if I knew their baby puked on them everyday. But it doesn't phase me one bit.

So, don't feel bad for me. I love her regardless of the constant regurgitation. And a  word of warning: I can't promise she won't get you!

I'm documenting this for the same reason I document everything else. One day, I will look back at this and remember what it felt like to be puked on all day. I will laugh about it, tease Charlotte about it, and move on. All of these things come and go so quickly. There is joy in everything, even puke.

8 Months

2/3 of the way through our first year together. Let me say the token necessary, obvious things as I reflect on this past 8 months. Charlotte is the sweetest, most joyful soul I have ever met and I love her more than I ever knew possible. It has been so fun to watch her grow and develop. Had to say it, moving on.

Here are her current milestones.
* 2 teeth
* Rolling and sitting well
* No signs of crawling or movement
* Trying hard to get down to 2 naps a day (almost there)
* Nursing every 3-4 hours
* Eating 2-3 meals a day
* Sleeping 8-8
* Laughing all the time
* Says: "Dada" "Mama" "Baba" "Hiiii" "Yaya" "Lala"

I had an epiphany yesterday as I was feeding Charlotte lunch. I filled her tray with strawberries and bananas (two of her favorites) and added a few cereal puffs that were left over from the day before. I sat in awe as I watched my baby scan her tray, find a puff, pinch it and bring it to her mouth. She continued this process, completely avoiding every piece of strawberry and banana, until every puff was gone. She even went as far as to rescue wayward puffs from her lap before contemplating the fruit. The epiphany was this: my baby girl is a person. A real person, with opinions and the ability to make independent decisions. She is capable of thinking through a situation and making a choice. Duh, Kelly. What did you think you birthed? But, up until this event, that fact had simply not crossed my mind. Of course she would choose the sweet, carbo loaded snack over the organic fresh produce. It seems so insignificant. But to me, it was monumental. She is not just an oblivious baby anymore, she's aware and thoughtful. She has opinions, and she has the ability to act on those opinions. Let the fun of parenting begin.
Her most recent development is a fake whine. When she is wanting to voice a complaint, she purses her lips, furrows her brow, and lets out the most pathetic "uh-uh-uh" she can muster. As soon as she gets your attention, she smiles immediately. More signs of her growing ability to form and communicate opinions. Of course, I still find it adorable, but Jeremy is not so sure.
She still shows no signs of separation anxiety or stranger apprehension.  Though she is so infrequently away from me, or around strangers, that this is really a moot point. She will happily be held by anyone and is extremely outgoing and social at the store. Which is why it now takes me an hour to walk through Target.
Another fun milestone that she is quickly approaching is the ability to play with other babies. Last week we had dinner with our best friends Tiffany and Aaron. Their little guy is just about 2 months older than Charlotte. For the first time, they sat on the floor and played together. Their game was an exciting one: pass the same toy back and forth about 100 times. They were happy and interacting, and I almost cried as I sat and watched them. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful community. Charlotte already has more friends than I do.

Playing with my dollies

At the park with my buddy

Let me just feel your eye ball really quickly...

Morning playtime

Lunch

Play date with my best friend Evelyn 

Weekend Away

We finally did it! We have been dying to spend a weekend at my parent's house in McCloud for months now, and for one reason or another it had yet to happen. Until this past weekend! Other than moving out to have our hardwood floors refinished, we had never taken Charlotte on an overnight trip. Charlotte being the home-body crib-body  that she is, I was a little nervous about how she would do sleeping in a new environment for an entire weekend. She did great!
I spent most of Friday packing, cleaning, running errands, so that when Jer got home we would be ready to go. We hit the road around 5:30 and Charlotte slept the entire way up. She was happy as could be when we arrived and so was I! It had been way too long. She ended up staying up until 10:30 that first night, but eventually went to bed fairly easily and slept the whole night.
Jeremy spent the majority of Saturday in the attic engineering blocking from which he could safely hang the porch swing we got my dad as a retirement/Christmas gift 6 months ago. He happily informed my parents that they could gain 500 pounds and still safely enjoy their swing. They immediately ate 5 cookies and a piece of cake.
Charlotte and I helped prime and paint the swing, mostly enjoying the sunshine and beautiful weather.
Saturday night Charlotte stayed and played with my parents and Jeremy and I went to dinner in Mt. Shasta. It was great to get away for an hour and Charlotte had a fun on her tour of McCloud.
Sunday we went to Church and then on a hike at Fowler's Falls.
Overall an incredibly relaxing and enjoyable weekend. Can't wait to get back up there. Hopefully it doesn't take another 8 months.
To celebrate our weekend away, Charlotte got her second tooth. They are really coming in now, and if she ever moves her tongue (rarely), you can really see them!

Playing on the porch, pre-swing

Playing in the grass, enjoying the sunshine

Bathtime

Fruits of their labor

First Cold

I knew it would happen, I just didn't expect it the first week of nice weather. Charlotte's first cold. Very mild as far as colds go. Just a snotty nose and sore throat (I know because she is constantly trying to clear her throat, which sounds like she is growling at me, which is a viable possibility as well.) She is being such a good sport about it, but how miserable it must be for her. The majority of her life right now involves sucking, and without the ability to breath through your nose, effective sucking is next to impossible.

Despite feeling crummy, she is still her normal happy self. As exhibited by this video.

Who knew having your feet bit off could be so funny.  Having a baby gives you a false sense of your comedic value. If I just spent all my time with Charlotte, I might consider a job as a stand-up comedian.

That second tooth has yet to pop through, but it sure is close.

The Eruption

It's here!  The very first tooth. Can't see it yet, but you can definitely feel it.  And the break through was relatively painless (for us both).

Charlotte did have a pretty rough two days, but handled it like a trooper. Vaccines in the morning, ear infection (Not on the eardrum, but in the canal. No oral antibiotics needed, just some drops) and tooth overnight. Despite it all, she was still in good spirits today.

She has officially added "Mama" to her vocabulary. It is starting to trump "Dada" though "Dada" still holds the record for most spoken word by a long shot. She says it with her tongue out so it's a mix between "mama" and "baba." It is very sweet. And she is so proud of herself.

My first week away from her could not have gone any better. She spent 2 days with my dad, one day with Jer, and one day with my mom. She was an angel all four days, not that I would have expected any differently. I don't know if I would say I enjoyed my time away, but it was not nearly has heart-wrenching as I expected it to be. I am gone a little over 3 hours, and the time flies by.  It is comforting to know that she is happy and being well loved while I am away. I also like knowing that she is secure and feels safe even if I am not there. One potential down-fall of being a stay-at-home mom is the lack of socialization your baby receives. I appreciate that Charlotte doesn't need me in her sight to be happy and know that she is loved. We'll see in a few months if she continues to feel that way.

Every morning Charlotte wakes up and chats with herself in her crib. Then, if Jer is still home, he goes and gets her and brings her to our bed. I nurse her and then we spend 10 minutes talking and snuggling in bed. This is hands-down the sweetest 10 minutes of my day.  Today I was thinking how precious this time is. When #2 comes along I won't have the luxury of lounging in bed with him/her without a toddler running around and needing my attention also. I am savoring every moment I get to pour 100% of my love an attention into my beautiful daughter.

Love strawberries!

Yes, the entire strawberry is in her mouth. She can't eat it fast enough

Got my first tooth today!

Who, me?

Can you see it?

Trauma

It took me a little while to recover enough from the trauma of the event to write this post. Now, almost a week later, I am only flashing on it every 10 minutes instead of every minute.  Improvement.

It happened. The baby fell. The baby fell far. It was horrible, heart-breaking, disappointing, and by the grace of God, not terribly damaging. Charlotte was sitting in her Bumbo on the kitchen counter, as she did every day up until this event, when the dog decided she wanted to come inside. I walked into the laundry room and heard a thud. Thinking she knocked something off the counter, I peaked around the corner, and to my horror, saw my beautiful baby girl lying on the tile. Shaking and subconsciously holding my breath, I rush to her, scoop her up and begin assessing her. She is crying, her head is completely intact, everything on her body looks normal and unharmed. I rush to the phone, call Jeremy and tell him what just happened. He was about half way to work and immediately turned around and came home. I called the ER. I called a good friend who was the director of the ER. I called of pediatrician. I called anyone I could think of. The consensus was: keep an eye on her and bring her in if anything seems abnormal. But nothing did. She seemed completely fine. How is that possible? How could this sweet, fragile baby girl plummet from the top of the counter to the hard tile floor and escape unscathed? Maybe she is not so fragile... Jeremy, Charlotte and I sat on the couch for a while trying to recover from the horrifying experience. Charlotte was fast asleep and I held her tight, sobbing and apologizing. Never have I felt like such a wretched person. After her nap, she woke up smiling, and chatting. As if nothing had ever happened. If only I could have fallen asleep and forgotten so easily.

This sounds so dramatic. I know if someone else wrote this blog and I was reading it, I would think to myself, "The baby is fine, get over it." By all means, think that. But when it happens to you, and you find your own baby lying on the tile floor, and you don't know if she is going to be okay or not, come back and read this blog and tell me you didn't react the same way. I also know I have a lifetime of bumps and bruises ahead of me, but it is a little different when the accident was potentially life threatening. There is something a little different between a broken arm and a cracked skull. Also, when you are directly responsible for the accident, the guilt is overwhelming.

Obvious lesson learned: Do not leave baby unattended in Bumbo on any elevated surface. She may not be able to roll over, but she can somehow launch herself out of the seat.

Since the incident, I have put Charlotte back in the Bumbo at least 10 times and she has not ever come close to getting out. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how she did it. It will be a life-long mystery.

So, I am embarrassed to admit I was the irresponsible mother who let her baby fall off the counter, but I am so grateful to God that He protected her.

Jeremy told me that if she doesn't get into Stanford, he is blaming me.

I, however, know that she is a genius. The girl is practically talking in sentences already. Well, not exactly sentences, but close :)

Not much to report in the physical development department. No teeth. Not really rolling much. Still not a lot of hair. Her Uncle Ryan did comment that she is looking chubbier though. Maybe we'll break out of the 5th percentile by our next check-up!

I will write another post next week about my class and leaving her for the first time; but for now this post is getting too long.

As always, she is the biggest joy and blessing in our lives.